Ask Spling – Episode 4: What made you choose this path?

In Episode 4 of ‘Ask Spling: Reel Talk and Real Life’… Spling answers: “What made you choose this path?” – a question from Lisa BG.

Hey, welcome to Ask Spling. So, when I think back, it wasn’t really a moment, it wasn’t a spark. I just naturally started gravitating towards wanting to become a film critic.

It really just put me on that path. I loved drawing, I loved art, I loved being creative. And I kind of loved my creative writing at school, did quite well at art and English.

So it made a natural progression to have this multidisciplinary approach to the whole art of filmmaking and the illusion and the magic that comes with it. Who wouldn’t want to watch movies for a living, right? And my mom says that from the age of four, I was already able to use the VHS machine and I was watching stuff like Dumbo and Dot and the Kangaroo. Two things that really stood out for me, the psychedelic elephant dance and the bunyip, ask an Australian.

And yeah, it just kind of set me on this course to wanting to really be more creative and embrace the arts. I also was watching TV, seeing Barry Ronge wax lyrical about film and that was really inspiring to me. And it all kind of just pushed me onto this course towards wanting to become a film critic and actually following that dream pursuit.

And I went to UCT and did a cultural and literary studies degree in the film media and visual studies stream. And then I started writing a review a day for a year. That’s where it all took root.

So it just kind of all kept going in that same direction and eventually caught up with me and here I am.

About Ask Spling

This weekly shorts series features film critic, Stephen “Spling” Aspeling answering questions to do with film, or anything for that matter!